Thursday, October 30, 2008

New Styles

I've been working on two new styles of beads. The first I call "Metallics." They were inspired by a glass artist I met in Tuscon last February named Cynthia Liebler-Saari. The blue on the bead below was created by rolling the white glass in white enamel (powdered glass) then applying copper foil and burning it off. It's a neat chemical reaction, don't you think? Then, I added flecks of gold and platinum leaf. I highlighted the bead below with raised black accents. Sometimes these beads look very earthy. Sometimes they look almost Japanese. They look great with Hill Tribes silver.

The next bead is a take off on my bird's nests. It is a basic black bicone with iridescent dark silver plum glass stringers wrapped loosely around the bottom half. I think it looks a bit like a pendulum - a great focal drop for a necklace. I've also made this style in transparent gray and transparent cranberry.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Good News, Bad News

Well, I went to the hand doctor today and got both good news and bad news. The good news is that the Carpal Tunnel in my left wrist should heal itself while I wear a brace. The bad news is that the pain in my other wrist is being caused by torn or punctured cartilage. So, now it's on to the next specialist for some "scoping."

In the meantime, I thought I'd show you some pictures of my earlier bangles made with silver wire. Enjoy!




Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Bird's Nest Pendant

Hello again!

I know it's not spring yet, but I've been wanting to try a bird's nest pendant for a long time. I've seen it done in wire, and thought about trying it in wire, but this is so much easier and cheaper! Plus, the color possibilites are endless.

The example below was made off-mandrel out of dark silver plum glass that has a bit of iridescence. I glued in three freshwater pearls for the eggs. The bail for the chain (which is on order) is on the back of the nest. I'll have to play around with positioning it so the nest lays properly.

So what do you think?

Thursday, October 16, 2008

New Copper Bangles

With silver being so high, many jewelry artists have turned to the warm, rich media of copper. Mom says she dosen't like it, but I'm an earthy kind of girl and I just love it!

I worked on these when I was out with a broken ankle a while back, so they're not new to me, just new to you! The way I photographed them makes them look a bit dark, but I'm working on that. I present "Serindipity," "Ginko," and "Chaos."





Monday, October 13, 2008

Twist and Shout!

Hello and welcome to the very first blog post for Lampwork by Lori! I hope to post at least once a week, but you know how it goes.

Lately, I've been working on twisties for a twistie (and twistie bead) exchange on a forum I visit called Lampwork Etc. Here is a picture of several twisties I made for the exchange, and this is how the beads start out.
I call my beads "Wispy Twisty Beads" beads because I use a lot of transparent glass in them and by the time the glass spreads out to the edges of the bead the color can look very delicate and whispy as seen in the beads below. Often, these beads are called "pleated" beads. The technique for making these beads comes from a Japanese beadmaking book called Tonbo-Dama: Japanese Glass Beads.

Check out my Etsy store for my very best "Wispy Twistie" beads!